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Hard-boiled Prose Never Goes Over Easy

There is no shortage of insufferable, stuck-up snobs across the Atlantic and around the world who declare "America has no culture," but when you get right down to it, no other country does a better job of exporting its culture than the U.S. of A. Early American art and literature took most of its cues from Europe, but it didn't take long for the New World to find its voice. Just as jazz is a uniquely American contribution to music, the raw, unsentimental rhythm of hard-boiled crime fiction is its literary equivalent. Tonight, a baker's half dozen of today's two-fisted purveyors of pulp fiction will gather for Noir at the Bar at Meshuggah Cafe (6269 Delmar Boulevard, University City) to read their hard-won, handwritten stories of savagery, sleuthing and sex. Among those scheduled to appear is 16 Tons author Jason Stuart, who also hosts the Noir at the Bar series in New Orleans. Both the prose and the drinks are served straight at 7 p.m. sharp, and admission is free. For all the details visit Subterranean Books' website at www.store.subbooks.com.
Thu., June 19, 7 p.m., 2014